Did princess change the ultimate balcony dining?

[CUontheC]

3 hours ago, XBGuy said:

We were on the Ruby Princess a month ago and enjoyed the Ultimate Balcony DInner one evening.  This was the fourth UBD we have enjoyed.

 

The "standard" entree choice is:
 

• Filet Mignon--two small filets
• Lobster Tails--two tails
• Surf 'n' Turf--one lobster tail and one filet

As others have mentioned, they do seem to accommodate some special requests.

 

We did have a centerpiece of roses on the table.  They will last for several days.

 

A photographer did come and took pictures before we started.  We never went to the photo gallery to claim it.  We have plenty enough pictures.

 

The "choice of hors d'oeurves" that CUontheC cites is a surprise to me.  We have never been offered a choice.  Maybe you have to ask.  The default on hors d'oeurves is a plate of eight canapes.  As I am writing this, I am smiling.  There are many, here on Cruise Critic, who seem to take pleasure in denigrating the canapes that Princess offers.  My wife and I like them.  So, no problem for us.  Since you are citing the Princess description, it sounds like you can request an alternative--shrimp cocktail, perhaps.

 

CUontheC, you will love the UBD,  I am not, by any means, a dessert person, and, I am, definitely not a chocolate person.  However, the dessert is amazing.

 

 

 Omg that dessert looks amazing.  I am really looking forward to this!!!!!!!

[Astro Flyer]

8 minutes ago, CUontheC said:

 Omg that dessert looks amazing.  I am really looking forward to this!!!!!!!

I have a good appetite but by the time dessert arrives I’m quite full.  Sometimes we’ve stored in in our mini fridge for the next day. ☺️

[XBGuy]

16 minutes ago, CUontheC said:

 Omg that dessert looks amazing.  I am really looking forward to this!!!!!!!

 

5 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

I have a good appetite but by the time dessert arrives I’m quite full.  Sometimes we’ve stored in in our mini fridge for the next day. ☺️

 

Yeah, a lot of people have made the comment that there is too much to eat.  AF offers a pretty good solution.  Here's the other thing, CUontheC, after your dessert, they're not done bringing stuff to you.  Here comes a plate of cookies.  There seems to be a bit of variation on these.  We have received petit fours on the plate and we have received very nice candies on the plate.  By this time I am crying "Uncle."  We eat the cookies/petit fours/candies over the next few days.  Once, I don't know what the deal was, but this final plate became three plates.  We did not come near finishing those off.  Sadly, after a few days they were getting pretty stale.

 

OK, here is some more fun for you.  Here is the menu from our cruise, last April, on the Ruby Princess.  I don't think this menu has ever changed in the 6 or 7 year span over which we have been enjoying these.

 

 

[geoherb]

We've been able to get minor modifications to the menu. Once we had shrimp and lobster instead of surf and turf. Another time we had flourless chocolate cake instead of the regular dessert, and another time we had a raspberry crème brulee. 

[Colo Cruiser]

A RS supervisor will come to discuss the menu etc and day or 2 prior.

[Ep010835]

10 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

• Lobster Tails--two tails

 

Are these the same tiny tails that are served in the MDR?

[Optotronics]

7 minutes ago, Ep010835 said:

 

Are these the same tiny tails that are served in the MDR?

Yes, they were the same tiny ones:(

i even asked when the chef came to go over the menu which type lobster as I wanted a large cold lobster and if they were the small tails with little taste, I would take the filet instead. He assured me it was the Maine lobster, so went with that and the 2 tiny Caribbean tales arrived.

[CUontheC]

13 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

 

Yeah, a lot of people have made the comment that there is too much to eat.  AF offers a pretty good solution.  Here's the other thing, CUontheC, after your dessert, they're not done bringing stuff to you.  Here comes a plate of cookies.  There seems to be a bit of variation on these.  We have received petit fours on the plate and we have received very nice candies on the plate.  By this time I am crying "Uncle."  We eat the cookies/petit fours/candies over the next few days.  Once, I don't know what the deal was, but this final plate became three plates.  We did not come near finishing those off.  Sadly, after a few days they were getting pretty stale.

 

OK, here is some more fun for you.  Here is the menu from our cruise, last April, on the Ruby Princess.  I don't think this menu has ever changed in the 6 or 7 year span over which we have been enjoying these.

 

 

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now that is a feast!!!

[XBGuy]

13 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

 

Are these the same tiny tails that are served in the MDR?

 

I couldn't tell you.  We've never had lobster in the dining room.  I would not characterize them as "tiny," but, while I am not humble about my expertise in many topics, I am not particularly knowledgeable in lobster tail sizes.

 

Interesting story, along the lines of the previous poster's comment about too much food in the UBD and, also, germane to lobster tail size.  For last month's UBD Mrs. XBGuy ordered the Lobster Tails--her normal order.  I ordered the Filet Mignon--my normal order.  As usual, when the entrees were delivered, the server offered to remove the lobster meat from the shells.  Mrs XBGuy granted permission, and he went to work.  Frankly, his effort was not as elegant as you would normally expect from a well-trained server, and not all the meat was extracted from one of the shells.  He immediately offered to bring additional tails, but Mrs. XBGuy declined.  The server left us and we started on our entrees. 

 

Mrs. XBGuy ate, maybe, half of one of her tails.  She offered the rest to me.  So, technically, I ended up with a Surf 'n' Turf entree.

 

Of course, the good news is that I still had plenty room for dessert.   😜

 

I just remembered something else from a UBD some time ago.  Once again, Mrs. XBGuy did not want to finish her lobster tails.  On this occasion, she sealed the remaining tail into a Zip-Lock bag--she always brings a stash of them whenever we travel--put it in the mini-fridge and, then, had a nice nosh the next afternoon on our balcony with a glass (or two) of wine.

[XBGuy]

13 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

A RS supervisor will come to discuss the menu etc and day or 2 prior.

 

That has happened to me, but, once again, there is no consistency in Princess operations from ship to ship.  I have pre-ordered the UBD on three cruises.  The first time I did it, the Room Service Manager called our room and requested permission to visit our cabin to make the various arrangement--e.g., menu selections, time.  I really thought that was good attention to detail and was impressed that he took the responsibility upon himself to finalize the details.  On both of the next two occasions I found a note in our cabin on embarkation day advising me to call Room Service 24 hours prior to our dinner and make those arrangements over the phone.

 

The first time we did it was before the pre-cruise reservation mechanism was in place.  On embarkation day I called the DINE Line and made the request.  The DINE Line agent filled out her form with all the options right then and there.

[Colo Cruiser]

8 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

That has happened to me, but, once again, there is no consistency in Princess operations from ship to ship.  I have pre-ordered the UBD on three cruises.  The first time I did it, the Room Service Manager called our room and requested permission to visit our cabin to make the various arrangement--e.g., menu selections, time.  I really thought that was good attention to detail and was impressed that he took the responsibility upon himself to finalize the details.  On both of the next two occasions I found a note in our cabin on embarkation day advising me to call Room Service 24 hours prior to our dinner and make those arrangements over the phone.

 

The first time we did it was before the pre-cruise reservation mechanism was in place.  On embarkation day I called the DINE Line and made the request.  The DINE Line agent filled out her form with all the options right then and there.

I agree. I think there was a couple of times when they did it over the phone.

[Ep010835]

32 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

I agree. I think there was a couple of times when they did it over the phone.

 

We’ve never tried it. Toyed with the idea but never pulled the trigger. 

Maybe next month on the Emerald. 

 

Dunno.......

[Colo Cruiser]

Just now, Ep010835 said:

 

We’ve never tried it. Toyed with the idea but never pulled the trigger. 

Maybe next month on the Emerald. 

 

Dunno.......

Must do at least once.

[Ep010835]

1 minute ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Must do at least once.

 

In the MDR I can always score another lobster tail or two just by asking. Is this possible with UBD?

[Colo Cruiser]

38 minutes ago, Ep010835 said:

 

In the MDR I can always score another lobster tail or two just by asking. Is this possible with UBD?

I never asked. It was too much food so I never thought of getting more.

When they go over the menu it can't hurt to ask.

I would also ask the wait staff the night of the dinner.

[Ep010835]

8 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

When they go over the menu it can't hurt to ask.

I would also ask the wait staff the night of the dinner.

 

🤙

[tensixmom]

I am getting ready to book this for our cruise next month.

 

What do you all recommend as to what day/night of a 7 day California Coastal to do it?  Would it be best to do it on an at sea day (night) or a port day (night) or does it matter?  It's an aft balcony if that makes any difference with regard to wind (or lack thereof)... I'd love to hear your opinions!

 

Thank you!

Edited February 13, 2019 by tensixmom

[heisnuts]

We always book it for an evening that we are at sea (and we have done many in the past).  Last month on the Grand, we booked it for 6 pm on the day we left Cabo.  Since the ship left Cabo at 4 pm, it was awesome to be sitting on the aft balcony watching as Cabo was slowly fading off into the distance as we headed to our 2 days at sea back to San Francisco.  The only thing to remember with an aft balcony is you will have the noise from the wake of the ship (which we love), so you will be speaking up during conversations with your companion and wait staff.

 

[XBGuy]

7 hours ago, tensixmom said:

I am getting ready to book this for our cruise next month.

 

What do you all recommend as to what day/night of a 7 day California Coastal to do it?  Would it be best to do it on an at sea day (night) or a port day (night) or does it matter?  It's an aft balcony if that makes any difference with regard to wind (or lack thereof)... I'd love to hear your opinions!

 

Thank you!

 

We always do it while we are at sea.  Mrs. XBGuy's attitude is that if she is on a cruise, she wants the see, hear and smell the ocean.  On our last cruise, we did it on a port day, but we had left the port before we started the dinner.  So, really, we were at sea.

 

Also, our last cruise we had an aft-facing balcony.  So, since the wind was negligible, that is the first time we actually had the UBD on the balcony because there was no wind.  On all our other UBDs with side-facing balconies, being at sea meant that it was pretty darned windy on the balcony.  We would have the servers set up the table inside the cabin next to the slider.  We enjoyed all of those just as much.

 

You say that you are on a California Coastal cruise.  If that is the one out of Los Angeles that I have been on several times, you are in port in San Francisco until 11:00 pm.  That might be a good time to enjoy the UBD,  However, I did not think of that idea all by myself.  That is a very popular evening for the UBDs which are quite limited in number.  So, if, in fact, you do get your heart set on a San Francisco UBD, go to your cruise personalizer and book your reservation prior to your cruise.  Yes, you will have charge it immediately to your credit card, but it will give you a let up on getting the date you want.

 

Bon voyage and bon appetit.

[Colo Cruiser]

We try and do it leaving port.

On the Royal we sailed from Santorini!

It was magnificent!!  😍

[polmcs]

 

We did the UBD on a LAX-HI circle and as we had the AIBP, they upped the Champagne split to a full bottle. This was before the 15 drink per day limit was introduced, so I don’t see them doing that again. 

 

We did it on on the late night departure from Honolulu, so we had some nice views of downtown from our balcony whilst in port and no wind to boot. We were also lucky that we were in a Caribe deck balcony cabin on the Star, so were able to pull the table and chairs back under the overhang when it began to sprinkle with rain. We saw some pretty spectacular lightning during dinner.

[tensixmom]

Thank you all for the very helpful information!